New study published in the online journal BMC Cancer has found that drinking just one pint (568ml/75cl) approximately a bottle of beer every day raises the risk of contracting prostate cancer by 23 per cent, adding that it means that when it comes to cancer, there is no safe threshold for drinking. Only binge-drinking was thought to raise the risk of contracting the disease – the most common cancer for men. But this misconception was based on flawed studies that gave men a false sense of security, the new analysis shows. Researchers from the University of Victoria in Australia analyzed 26 previous scientific studies that linked the consumption of alcohol to prostate cancer.

They found that men who drank two to three units each day – equivalent to one pint of five per cent strength beer or two 175ml glasses of wine – raised their risk of prostate cancer by 23 per cent compared to people who had never drank alcohol. But even as little as half a pint a week increased the likelihood of contracting the cancer, which is a huge health problem for the British National Health Service (NHS). The research is likely to alarm men who considered themselves moderate drinkers and therefore not in danger. Lead researcher Tim Stock well said: “For cancer risk, the causal processes appear to be operating whenever we drink, and to a degree directly relate to how much we consume and with no safe threshold.